


Better Mischief Through Science

by qwanderer



Series: Midnight Mystery [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Genre: Adventure, Fairy Tale Tropes, Includes most of the plot of Thor retold, Jotunn!Loki, M/M, completely ignorant writing of Thanos, mostly romance, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-06
Updated: 2012-09-06
Packaged: 2017-11-13 16:44:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/505606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qwanderer/pseuds/qwanderer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Living two separate lives can get complicated, even for a god. Luckily, Loki has full access to Tony Stark and his resources.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Home Again

Tony got in the suit and started digging through the wreckage of the Malibu house to see what he could salvage out of his lab. Two of the suits were totaled. One was still usable except for the one arm. Butterfingers and You had managed to find safe corners, and all they'd need was a polish and maybe a new strut here and there. He popped up his faceplate to get a better look at his latest find. Tony wasn't sure, he might have to completely rebuild Dummy.

Simple enough programming, he was sure he could recreate it from memory even if Jarvis didn't have a copy stashed somewhere.

Dummy had been his first robot.

"Getting sentimental over a bit of steel?"

Loki was perched on the crumbling remains of the house, one leg running down the now-slanted concrete slab, the other bent so he could drape his arms over his knee. He wore his green arc reactor on a chain around his neck. His midnight-blue shirt was two or three shades darker than his skin, and the collar lay open in an appealingly casual way.

"My metal heart bleeds," Tony said, shooting an annoyed look at his boyfriend. "Get out of here, I've got work to do."

"I think I know you a little better than that. Come here," Loki commanded. 

Perhaps it was the sheer novelty of someone commanding him, and actually expecting to be obeyed, but Tony went.

"All right, all right, Blue Man. What do you want?" Tony said as he sat down beside Loki, taking his helmet off.

"This was your home?" the god asked.

Tony looked out over the ocean waves. "I guess you could call it that. It was my place. Spent most of my time here, down in the labs, just me and Jarvis and the bots. Apparently no human can tolerate the concentrated force of Starkspeak for extended periods." The human was relaxing, but his voice was still a bit bitter.

"What about Banner?"

"Not sure Dr. Jekyll there counts as human, and you definitely don't. Besides, I'm expounding here on the loneliness of my life before the whole Avengers thing. Don't interrupt."

He took off his gauntlets and turned the twisted piece of steel over in his fingers. "Home's a funny word. I built Dummy when I was at MIT and it was the first place I'd felt like people got me at all. People there talked about going home for breaks and I'd just be sitting there thinking 'why would you ever want to leave a place like this?' I stayed in the dorm over Christmas break one year and built Dummy to keep me company. Far as I know my parents didn't even notice I wasn't there. I'd been living at schools since I was ten, my dad hardly left his own lab, Mom was probably having an affair. What's a bored housewife got to do when they hadn't invented Sims yet?"

"So that was home?"

"I thought so for a while. People there accept a smart kid like a mascot until he does just one too many brilliant things and then it all turns Frankenstein, torches and pitchforks and 'your science is too scary for me, you have to be stopped.' Kept my best designs to myself, after that."

"I know what it is to be feared," Loki said, and he took Tony's hand without looking at him, red eyes still focused on the ocean. "It's not a good thing, but if it's what you have, you learn to use it."

"Well I never said I kept everything to myself. I sold weapons, after all." The twitch at the corner of Tony's mouth was automatic and bereft of humor.

Two monsters, hands comfortably entwined. They watched the Pacific ebb and flow, the waves softening the edges of their regrets.

"I see why this view is sought after," said Loki after a while. "A picture of entropy. Soft, slow, constant destruction. The inevitability of change."

"This _will_ be a home," Tony said with sudden conviction. "And you're going to help me build it." 

Loki smiled softly. "I'm really much better at tearing things down," he said, and now the corner of his mouth twisted.

"Then I'll teach you how to build."


	2. Now You See It

Fury stood in front of the Avengers, including their new member, his one eye glinting like a weapon.

"All right, who left the door open when they came into the Avengers Initiative, because I feel a cold draft."

He walked across the room until he was one step away from Loki.

"Tell me how I'm supposed to handle this with the press. _Who_ is this, and why don't we have a file on him? Oh wait we _do,_ don't we? Only it says 'HOSTILE' on it."

Loki turned a look of polite confusion on Fury and said, "I don't know what you're talking about, good sir. I am the hero, Midnight Mystery, recently arrived on this planet."

It was actually a decent act, until Tony ruined it by sniggering.

"That's how you wanna play this, huh?" Fury just looked at Loki for a full minute, then he sighed a long-suffering sigh. "You've got a pretty recognizable bone structure. But you're a damn fine actor, and I've covered up more obvious things."

He turned to look at the rest of the Avengers, pointing at Tony and Loki.

"You all keep an _eye_ on them."

"Outsourcing labor?" Tony couldn't help himself. "Your troublemakers outnumber your eyes now, huh?"

Nick Fury snorted. "Oh, I keep one especially for you, Stark. Always. Don't forget it." And he stalked out of the room.

Tony laughed. He was definitely amused that he was still the poster boy for unstable Avengers, in the face of Bruce and Loki's tallies of destruction.

Then again, he supposed he was the one dating a somewhat murderous god. That was pretty far up there on even his "behaviors to think twice about" scale.

* * *

HQ was full of Avengers after the meeting. Bruce and Natasha were playing chess. Steve was sitting on the couch using a tablet, and Tony came up behind him to see what he was working on.

"What even is this? Why do you need a spreadsheet of old baseball scores?"

"It's a homework assigment for my computer literacy class. They said we could use any data set we wanted."

"You're a legend, a ghost, you shouldn't even exist and you're worried about handing in schoolwork. Who do you think you are, George P. Burdell?" Tony teased.

Steve smiled and shook his head. "Yes, I got that one, thank you. But this isn't about some superfluous piece of paper. I need to know this stuff to function in the modern world."

Clint came bursting out of the elevator. "There is a car. In my bedroom. What the fuck."

Bruce endeavored not to react. Steve and Natasha raised their eyebrows. Tony attempted to look innocent and failed.

"You." Clint focused in on Tony. "How. How did you do that."

Tony smiled. "Magic."

"Okay," he said. "I guess that makes sense. Can I keep it? It actually looks kind of awesome there."

"Hey, I can't get it out myself anyway. Completely non-magical being here, extradimensional power sources aside. I just helped with the caculations. And contributed the car."

"Soo...Loki put it there. Not sure I want to think too hard about what that means." Clint looked around for a distraction. "Why are you using spreadsheets, Cap? Only geeks use spreadsheets."

"I don't get it," Steve protested. "First I get made fun of for not knowing things about computers. Now I'm being made fun of for knowing them?"

"Oh, didn't you get the memo?" Tony said. "Geeks are cool now. It's a compliment."

"No it wasn't," Clint said, but not very loudly.


	3. Lie to Me

Thor found Loki in a quiet corner of HQ. Loki mentally readied himself to teleport, just in case of excessive annoyance.

"I must speak with you," Thor told him. "Not as family. As an Avenger."

Loki supposed he must listen. As an Avenger. "Speak, then."

"Tony showed us all what you told him about the Chitauri invasion. It helped the others to begin to trust you. That was good. If you are to be part of this team I wish to trust you again. But there are other things you've done that I do not know what to think of. You must have reasons for your dealings with the Jotunn, for the destroyer."

Thor looked at him with curiosity on the edge of desparation. "Talk to me, Br...Loki. Explain this to me, please. I swear I will listen. I know I have not done so before. Perhaps this way I might begin to regain your trust as well."

"And if I have no excuse? If I simply hated you and the Jotunn enough to murder you all?"

"Then lie to me," Thor said earnestly. "Tell me a story I can believe. Convince me of that lie, so I can stop watching my back."

Loki's eyes widened slightly. "You have changed, Thor," he said. "Very well. I will tell you a story."

Loki sat, leaning forward with elbows on his knees, giving the impression of trusting Thor with confidences. "All of that, everything that went wrong with my plans at your coronation, I blame on Heimdall."

"Heimdall?" Thor exclaimed. "What sort of lie is this?"

"You _said_ you would listen," Loki hissed, narrowing his eyes. "Now be silent, if you are capable of it."

Thor was silent. Loki could see what it cost him, and he was appeased, for the moment.

He continued. "Heimdall has always hated me, insulted me and spread rumors about what I might be doing. He is far too used to knowing everything, and he has always hated that I could hide things from him. It is my nature to hide and plot, and yes, to lie. Knowing that he was watching made me want to hide all the more."

Loki examined one of his blue hands, turning it over to look at both sides. "I've wondered, since I learned my true nature, whether he was watching when Odin took me and has known all along what I was, or whether he somehow sensed what I did not even know, that the form I wore was a lie. Whichever it was, I am sure he has mistrusted me from the beginning."

Loki looked up at his adoptive brother. "Oh, do not fidget yourself to death, Thor. I will come to the events of your coronation day shortly."

He took a breath. "I did lead the Jotunn into Asgard that day. I did it because you would have made a terrible king. I knew they would not get far. I knew I could goad you into leading an attack against Jotunheim. I knew that Odin would stop you if he knew where you were going and why. I _thought_ that I could draw out my speech for Heimdall long enough that we would be stopped before we went through the Bifrost.

"He didn't even let me utter five words. You remember. He stopped me. He encouraged our attack. I could have strangled him. What kind of idiotic plan is it to let six young warriors full of rage go to attack Jotunheim alone? I'm almost certain he was hoping I would not come back alive.

"And then we fought the Jotunn, and I learned what I was, and it all made sense. Why everyone hated me, or at the best, distrusted me. I was one of them. Something to be exterminated. Squashed like a bug. But then why did Odin take me? Why did he keep me, and pretend to love me? What was my purpose? I asked him, but he gave no satisfactory answer before he fell into his sleep. And then, suddenly, I was king."

Loki shook his head. "What a poor king _I_ made. How could I get my subjects to trust me, the Father of Lies? To take me seriously, the second, disfavored son? Sif and the Three would have laughed in my face if they hadn't wanted so badly to get you back." He sighed. "I meant what I said to them then. If I brought you back, the people would believe I lacked the courage to rule alone, and they would question you as king because of your banishment. Asgard needed me to be a king and I tried to act like one. 

"Then Frigga told me that Odin had a plan for your banishment to Midgard. That you were meant to return once you had solved one of his puzzles. I know Odin's punishments. I guessed at the purpose of this one - that you learn humility and self-sacrifice. It's always something like that. So I went to visit you, and I told you the lies that I knew best would crush you. I did not trust you to learn humility on your own. And I needed you. The crown was heavy with the hatred of the people.

"I wanted to know that I was doing the right thing, that I was good enough to be king of Asgard despite everything. Did you know that I tried to lift Mjolnir, while I was there? I failed, of couse. One more way the Realms were telling me that I was not good enough.

"Next I visited Laufey, to determine whether things could be salvaged between our worlds. He immediately ordered me killed, so I put events in motion so that he would die instead. Perhaps the rest of them would prove more reasonable, in time.

"Then Sif and the Three became determined to rescue you. I had ordered that no one be allowed to use the Bifrost. I needed you to solve the puzzle on your own, and come back in glory as Odin had planned. But again, Heimdall."

Loki's jaw tightened. "I always have a plan. But Heimdall is unable to trust. He has to know. He betrayed me, his king, and let them through to Earth. I had to think quickly.

"Perhaps you had not solved the puzzle because it was about more than humilty. Perhaps you needed to learn about the price of war." Loki's eyelids lowered in pain at the approaching memories. "I sent the destroyer with two orders. First, to prevent your return, and second, to cause destruction. I hoped you would solve the puzzle and defeat the destroyer before it caused too much trouble between Asgard and Midgard.

"I watched closely, but Mjolnir did not come to you. Sif and the Warriors were injured, running, and you stood alone, to protect them, and Mjolnir did not come. You told me that you would rather die than see any more of this world destroyed, and Mjolnir did not come."

Loki was surprised to find that ice-cold tears were running down his cheeks.

"Was I so wrong? Was I so useless even at the plotting that had become my greatest gift? Could I not see any path that would put things right? And there you were, the noble, perfect, self-sacrificing firstborn of Odin, still not good enough for him. Waiting for death.

"It broke me, Thor. The decision to continue with my plan, because it was too late to turn back. To push you one last time. To deal you that blow that might have killed you. It broke me."

Loki could not bring his eyes up from his hands now. The moment when he had most felt like a monster was before his eyes now, and strangely, the blue of his skin gave him comfort. It made him remember who he had been since he had had his own magic taken. He breathed, and continued.

"I was a monster. Jotunn were monsters. Suddenly I could not tolerate what I was. I went mad. But madness, from the inside, looks strangely like clarity. To save Asgard from war seemed the simplest thing. Destroy Jotunheim and no more Æsir would ever have to face them again. That would be my great sacrifice. That would somehow make us equal again." Loki laughed bitterly. "It made sense at the time."

He took another breath. "I'm not sure how much of that madness was with me still while I led the Chitauri here. But since I had my magic stripped from me, many things about me have changed. 

"So. That is the only story I can give you, Thor. Is it enough? Can you trust me?" And Loki looked up at Thor.

Thor was crying too.

"Is all of that true?" the thunder god asked.

"Well," said Loki. "Most of it." He smiled crookedly.

Thor laughed. It was a quieter, more thoughtful laugh than Loki had ever heard out of his brother.

Perhaps being Avengers together would work better than being brothers ever had.

"You have changed too, Loki. It seems strange to me that the Man of Iron is the one who seems to have taught you much of this. He is not humble or patient or kind or any of the things that Jane has taught me to be."

"Ah, but I never needed to learn humility," Loki replied. "I needed to learn pride, and self-indulgence, and shamelessness." _And petty vengeance,_ he thought but did not say. He hadn't done any veiling spells and it was likely Heimdall had been listening. 

"Then Tony Stark is indeed a good man for the job," Thor said, smiling. "I hope your courtship continues well?"

"That is not Avengers business, Odinson." Loki's tone was not angry, but it was firm. They were done.

Thor dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Then I will speak to you later, Mystery." And he left Loki in peace.

The brute could learn. Loki smiled to himself. It just required a few good cracks to the skull.


	4. The Show

Tony and Loki were in the lab, as Tony attempted to get a read on biological magic. They had been at it for a while past the theoretical time that people tend to sleep, because Tony kept thinking he was on the edge of a breakthrough. Certain readings would increase when the current from the reactor decreased. He thought he was getting a pretty comprehensive picture of everything that happened that he had the capability of measuring, when the readings did something completely unexpected.

"Woah, woah, something changed," Tony said.

"Show me."

"See that spike there? And then how the harmonics completely shift after that point? What did you do?"

"That is not my magic."

"Well it's coming from you. Trouble?" he asked as he saw Loki go pale - disconcerting to say the least, since he went from royal blue to nearly Andorian. 

"Yes. This is trouble." Loki waved his hands and seemed to listen for results. "Yes. It is very bad trouble. It is him."

"Who?"

Loki had collapsed into the desk chair without really noticing. Now Tony was looking down at him in concern from where he was perched on the edge of the desk.

"The being who convinced the Chitauri to attack Earth. He is in love with death, and I might have hoped he found some other project to occupy his attention after I minimalized casualties here. But this spell is his, and it is tracking me." Loki's eyes darted from side to side, as he found himself once again in the uncomfortable position of making decisions that would affect the lives of an entire realm. "At the least this means he wants something from me, and not simply to kill the inhabitants of Midgard. That means we have time to develop some kind of plan."

Tony nodded. "All right. What do you need?"

"It may not be wise to be associated with me right now."

"Right, like that's going to stop me." Tony spun the chair around until he had Loki's shoulders in his hands, then leaned down to put lips to a blue ear. "Anything you need. Ask."

Loki turned his head to kiss the human. In the last few moments his whole body had begun vibrating with tension and it felt so sweet to be able to drown all that in Tony's warm mouth. But he had work to do.

"I know. Still, I don't want him to learn of my association with the Avengers." Loki lifted the green arc reactor from where it hung against his chest. A wave of his hand summoned metal from one of the benches, and a staff formed under his hands, filaments disguising the technology that was the arc reactor, but letting green light shine out.

"I can obscure my location for a time, but I doubt I will be able to break the spell while he is in another realm. I need to lead him off the scent."

Loki stood, and for only the third time since he had become able again, he donned his Asgardian skin and armor, horns and all.

"I believe it's time to play the supervillain again," Loki said, and vanished.

* * *

Tony was still in his workshop when the call went out for the Avengers to assemble. Some kind of evil robots were kicking buildings over in Boston. Loki appeared, looking absolutely exhausted and leaning on his new staff.

"Want to sit this one out, M&M?" Tony asked. 

"No, I should keep both my identities active." He did not mention wanting to look out for Tony. After the earthquake, Tony could deduce that other reason quite easily on his own.

"Welcome to not eating and sleeping." Tony handed him a glass of repugnant-looking green sludge.

"Drink it," he prompted. "Bruce helped me tweak the recipe. That's as much as Midgardian science can do to fit everything your biochemistry needs in one glass." Tony gulped down his own slightly greener mixture, then went for his suit.

The stuff was disgusting. But it did make him feel more whole, almost immediately. That was perhaps helped by the fact that it existed at all, and had been here waiting for him.

* * *

The news that night had both stories - the Avengers, including Midnight Mystery, saving Boston from unidentified giant robots, and Loki causing various mischief, including appearing on the roof of the Pentagon, subsequently followed by the disappearance of every single light bulb in the entire complex.

The descriptions of the resulting chaos made Loki grin.

"I see you chose a prank that the Avengers would be absolutely no help in setting right," Bruce noted.

Clint was laughing. "No lightbulbs. In the Pentagon. That is priceless."

Cap was not laughing. "Uh, why is Loki being all villain-y again, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I have plans. Obviously," said Loki.

"Yeah, heads up, Cap, there might be another alien or two after his head." Tony's expression was magnificently unworried, Loki thought. "We'll let you know if they set a date to demolish the Earth or something. Meanwhile we've got things in the works."

Steve raised his eyebrows. 

"Okay, then. Try not to destroy too much stuff, I guess."

Tony stood behind Loki's chair, running fingers through his dark hair. "Remind me when was the last time we slept? Because you, Springbok, look like shit."

"Same to you, darling," Loki replied, tilting his head back. "It's got to be nearly forty hours now."

"So come on. There's sleeping to be done."

"I should not sleep here. I would need to let down my location scrambling spell."

Tony considered this. Then his eyebrows rose. "Hey, we haven't tested out the bed in the jet yet."

Tasha shook her head. "Guys, I do not need those kinds of associations. If you're going to do that stuff, at least discuss it out of earshot."

The others agreed.

"I don't know what you're going on about. We're going to sleep." Tony shook his head. "Dirty minds. All of you."


	5. Home Again

With his augmented power and the shining green energy of the arc reactor lying over his heart, Loki found that the gates between the worlds were open to him, much more easily than before.

He'd been to Asgard once since he had been banished, in disguise, to get the golden apple he had given to Tony. But now he needed something even more rare. Something that only grew in the palace gardens. Something that was guarded most carefully.

He supposed he would have to visit his mother.

This time he was himself, Jotunn. She stared in consternation for a while, then ran to embrace him. "Loki! You've returned!"

His arms wrapped around her of their own accord, and he admonished himself for the habit. "Yes. I have some business in Asgard."

"Will you join us at the feast tonight?"

"Perhaps, if you truly wish it," said Loki.

She hesitated, looking at him. "You have regained your magic, have you not? You can still shift forms?"

Loki realized what she was asking. "I am done hiding what I am."

She frowned sadly. "How can I allow you in the court looking like this? You'll frighten everyone."

"Do I frighten you, Mother?"

"No," and that was a lie, and something in Loki broke to see it. "But I have known all along what you were. What will happen when the court sees you like this?"

"Chaos," said Loki, and he showed her, with his sharp-edged smile and red eyes bright with anticipation, that fresh piece of insanity she had just unleashed in him. "And you know how I love chaos. No, you will not get me to hide, to betray myself, for the sake of peace in your home."

" _Your_ home, Loki," Frigga said, reaching for him, but stopping short when she saw the look in his eyes.

"Never," he said. "Not one day out of the thousands of years was this ever _my home._ A home is a place where lies and disguises are unnecessary. Unwanted. Unbelieved when tried."

There was something solid there, Frigga thought, that had never been there before.

"You really have found something more of yourself on Midgard, haven't you?" she said, her eyes shining with a mix of joy and pain. "Something you needed that we could never give you. Odin was wise to send you."

The "No!" tore itself out of Loki's throat. "Do not defend that tyrant and father of tyrants to me! What I found on Earth, I found the day I invaded it. What I found on Earth stripped me of the illusion that I have anything in common with _Odin._ " That name he spat, with utmost disgust, like a scatological swear. 

"'Born to be kings,' he said, and how wrong he was. A Jotunn runt is born to rule no one. But I tried. When I was unhappy, you all thought me jealous. Jealous of Thor's strength, perhaps, or his stronger claim on the throne. I never wanted to rule. All I wanted was for Odin to see us as we were, as ourselves, instead of as tools, as he wanted to mold us. Both of us. He was blind to both of us, and if his eye had been open, he might have given us the simple things we needed. But it is far too late, and if either of us has a home now, it is on Earth."

Tears were making trails down Frigga's face now. "Is Midgard truly so superior to this realm?"

"Superior." Loki chuckled, softly, darkly. "What an Asgardian word. No, Earth can be low, and filthy, and full of weak and terrible people. Be it ever so humble...," and he laughed to himself again.

"No, I would not call Earth superior. But I do call it home."

His adoptive mother had a terribly heartbroken look in her eyes but Loki refused to give her any sign that he had regret, that he had missed her. It would weaken his point, and he needed her, more than anything, to understand and believe that point.

"Shall I stay for the feast, then, given my conditions?" he asked, giving her at least that much. Time with him in his true form, if she wished it.

Frigga made to answer, and then she paused, thinking. "I shall have to consult Odin."

"Perhaps we should discuss my business here first. I've come seeking apples."

"Then you must ask Idunn."

"I have already what I need of the fruit of Gold-tree. Now I am seeking the fruit of Silver-tree."

Frigga put a hand over her mouth. her tear-stained eyes widened.

"Loki. Silver apples. What could you possibly...."

"I don't plan for anyone to die."

"Then what?"

"A trick. A simple harmless trick."

"With witch's apples. Harmless?"

Loki took his mother's hands, and looked into her eyes.

"Mother, I swear to you, if this goes wrong, the only person in mortal danger will be me."

"You... _you're_ going to eat it?"

"I may have to. The situation I find myself in is a dangerous one."

"And then?"

"I believe I have someone who will be able to save me."

Frigga's eyes filled up with tears again. "You have someone. Are you sure?"

"Sure enough that if I am wrong, I am quite prepared to die."

Frigga looked into his red eyes for a long moment, then embraced him again, tighter than before. "I'll get you your apple. Then go _home._ "


	6. Must Go On

Silver apples are the color of silver, but they do not shine. They are black, glinting things, tarnished and evil-looking.

Loki turned this one over in his hands. Tony stared at it in fascination, sensing its importance by the reverent motions of Loki's fingers.

"What is that?" Tony asked. "It looks spectacularly poisonous. Is one of us going to have to eat it?"

He didn't start to worry until Loki failed to crack a smile. The frost giant, in fact, looked grim.

"Really?" Tony said. "A poison apple. This is your plan?"

"Back-up plan," the god said. 

"All right," said the inventor. "Then tell me about plan A."

* * *

Loki continued to make regular public appearances. A wheat field in Georgia was turned entirely magenta. Bigfoot sightings quadrupled. A senator and his girlfriend turned up in bed together, except the bed was floating out in international waters.

Loki was sitting on a park bench, wearing his human businessman persona, explaining to children his fondness for raising bonsai kittens, when Thanos found him. 

"I've been expecting you," said the god of mischief, without glancing at the puce-skinned being who towered over him.

"I rather like this planet," Loki said conversationally. "It's grown on me. I'd prefer it if you left Earth intact." He stood up from his park bench to speak to Thanos face to face.

"You once feared me. What has happened to change that?"

"The humans can be surprisingly adept at some things. I have had the best of teachers in the art of fearlessness." He looked steadily at Thanos. "I will not let you destroy this place."

"Is that so?" Thanos replied. "What makes you think there is any way you can stop me?"

"I noticed your tracking spell. You want something more than to cause death here. You want something from me."

"Perhaps, but I will not let it stand in my way of the destruction I have planned."

"And how will you accomplish that destruction? What army have you this time?"

"I believe this time I will rely on my own power."

Loki chuckled. "I think even you will find Earth's heroes difficult to defeat."

"The Chitauri had a fatal weakness and your 'heroes' were lucky enough to stumble across it. I doubt they will be so lucky again."

"Everyone has a weakness, and I know yours."

"Why would I believe you, little liar?"

"You spent months manipulating a master manipulator, and you think I learned nothing?" Loki smirked. "I believe I know you much better than you know me."

"Then why don't you tell me. Why am I here? What do I want? What is my weakness?"

"It is the futility of your goals. You love death, but what about death? To cause it? To see it? To use it? As a tool, as a means to power? As a thing of beauty in itself?"

"Death is all of that, and I wish to possess it. To possess Earth."

Loki laughed. "Impossible. Here on Earth, the throne belongs to no one, and everyone. No one and everyone holds life and death in their hands. Earth is like a slippery eel and if you would capture anything of it, it squirms out of your grasp."

"So you say, trickster."

"So I say, from experience."

"Perhaps you simply did not grasp hard enough." Thanos smiled evilly.

"To do so is to crush, to destroy. So inelegant. So pointless. I thought you wanted to _possess._ " Loki looked into his fellow immortal's eyes. "If you would destroy everything, what have you left to show?"

Thanos did not reply.

"That is your weakness. I will take advantage of it."

"I fail to see how."

"And I fail to see what you want from me if you are already so set on your course of action." Loki examined his fingernails in a studied display of apathy.

"You betrayed me. What I want is to cause you pain before I kill you."

"I have had my share of pain. But you could probably stand to feel a little more."

Without warning, Loki punched Thanos in the face, breaking his nose.

"How dare you! And you accuse me of futility? What could you hope to gain from that?"

Loki smiled broadly. "Purely the pleasure of it. You are far too smug for my taste."

He teleported away.

* * *

Loki reappeared in the Stark Tower labs, blue skin and obscuring spell in place, but Thanos's reddish purple blood still gleaming wetly on his knuckles.

"Ah, good, Bruce," he greeted the startled doctor. "I have a sample for you."


	7. Die for Me

They called a meeting two days later. 

Steve looked towards Tony and Loki, as they stood side by side and watched the other Avengers enter the room. "I take it your aliens have set a date for the end of the world?"

"Close enough," said Tony.

"Only one, but he is the most dangerous being I have ever encountered," said Loki. "I am hiding myself from him to delay him, but it is not only me he wants and he will not wait forever."

Tony spoke again. "Loki has volunteered to be the bait, so we can pick the time and place for this shindig."

"What do we know?" Cap asked.

"His name is Thanos. He is a sorcerer even more powerful than myself. He is merciless and he will spare no one."

This time Loki had the luxury of explaining what his plan was and why it was all necessary. But all he would say of Plan B was, "If all else fails, I should have a way of distracting him."

They stood in the spot they had chosen, a wooded area outside the city, but close enough to the tower that Loki could teleport back if needed with minimal power, or, if things went very wrong, SHIELD could arrive in minutes.

He needed them all focused and motivated. He put his silver tongue to use.

He didn't need to say much to Steve. He was smart enough to be trusted with making decisions on the spur of the moment, and as for motivation, all Loki needed to say was something about saving the world. 

As he handed Hawk some extra special arrows fresh from the labs, Loki made sure to emphasize that this was the being who created the spear, who decided to invade Earth, and that if Clint wanted to put an arrow through the eye of the person responsible, now would be the time. Clint smiled darkly at that, and Loki knew he had done his best there.

"I doubt instructions will be of much use here," he said to Bruce, "but I sincerely hope that you can thrash him quite as thoroughly as you did me. He is one being I would wish that on." He looked into the scientist's eyes and intentionally let him see the instability that memories of Thanos were bringing out in him.

"Brother," he said to Thor, putting on his Asgardian face, "If you ever trusted me, trust me now." He looked thor in the eye, raising one eyebrow and almost smiling, as he used to when he was talking his brother into some mischief. "You know me, I always have something up my sleeve, as they say here." Then his stare intensified, and he grasped the prince of Asgard by the upper arms. "Do what I say, no questions or hesitations. The life of every being on Midgard depends on it." 

Thor was somewhat shocked, and only nodded. Loki returned to his now-customary blue appearance and moved on.

"I have rarely faced a sorcerer as talented as myself," he told Natasha, "but those who get the best of me are often those who can think and move quickly. Be cautious. Stay out of his attention. Pick your moment."

Then he stood in front of Tony, in his suit but without his helmet, a silence drawing out between them.

"We can do this," Tony said finally, his mouth quirking. "Alien sorcerers are our specialty. No problem."

Loki brought his lips to Tony's ear. "Keep being fearless," he commanded. "Trust me. I will trust you."

Then he drew back slightly, looking into the human's eyes, and placing the ghost of a kiss on his lips.

"I want to wake up next to you...every time. Remember that."

"You'd better," Tony replied.

Then Loki stepped back, and the air blurred around him. He returned to his Asgardian skin and armor, helmet and all, but beside him appeared Midnight Mystery in his gold and blue armor. The green-and-black-clad figure pointed to the one in blue and gold. "He will stand with you, and help coordinate. I will be the bait. Prepare yourselves. When you're ready, I'll drop the scrambling spell."

Loki stood in the center of a clearing. Hawkeye and Black Widow had disappeared deep into the trees. The others crouched nearby, just out of sight. 

"Thanos," called Loki. "Come and speak to me."

Thanos appeared twelve minutes later, landing heavily on the grass in front of Loki and creating a small crater. He glanced around him, noting the red glint off Iron Man's armor.

"Obviously a trap," he said, smiling. "Well, if you are so eager for the death to begin, let it begin!" 

A boulder rose from the ground and threw itself at Loki. He teleported to the side. Hawk sent an arrow to Thanos's eye, but a branch moved to block it. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk all moved in to attack, but soon the air around the immortal was full of flying debris that seemed to block every blow. 

The Hulk battled his way through this, but before he could lay a hand on Thanos, the sorcerer cast a spell, and the Hulk was blinded, while Thanos stepped out of his way easily.

The battle went on like this for some time. Iron Man managed to do some damage with his lasers, but not enough before Thanos learned how to deflect them. Thor threw Mjolnir, but Thanos seemed to sense it easily and sidestep the blow. Between real Loki and clone Midnight Mystery, they managed to neutralize some of the animated objects' spells long enough to give Widow an opening, and she shot Thanos a couple of times in the chest, but it didn't seem to faze him, and soon Tasha took a blow from his arm that sent her flying through the air, cracking her head against a tree.

By now, news helicopters were hovering overhead. Thanos sent a couple of improvised missiles in their direction, but Iron Man managed to shoot them out of the air with his repulsors. This angered the immortal, and Thanos began to look at Tony with a glint in his eye that Loki really didn't like. 

Loki needed to concentrate. The blue clone was beginning to be more trouble than it was worth. Loki contrived to have it get hit in the face with flying debris, and then disappear as if it were teleporting to safety.

Thor called the lightning, and it hit Thanos, making him stumble and the objects around him lurch a bit. Hawkeye took another shot, but by the time the arrow arrived the stones and branches were back up to speed and the arrow was knocked off course.

Cap had moved Natasha to a safer spot and checked her over. Now he picked up the gun she had dropped and went after Thanos, blocking flying objects with his shield long enough to exhaust the magazine. The immortal's suit appeared to be armored, since the only hit that was oozing that purplish blood was one that had grazed his cheek.

Thanos threw boulders at the Captain and Thor. Cap's shield deflected his easily, but Thor was thrown back. Still, Thanos brought his eyes back to Iron Man. The immortal began to move towards the armored human, and Loki could see that he was preparing a particularly nasty spell. 

Loki decided things were not going well, and it was time to enact Plan B.

"Stop!" Loki commanded, moving to stand directly in front of Thanos.

"Why should I?"

"If you destroy this world I will never tell you my secret."

Thanos laughed. "What knowledge could be worth trading for all these deaths?"

"I could show you a way to bring back the dead." Loki smiled darkly. "Think of it. Death could be yours to command, over and over and over."

"You have no such knowledge." But the immortal frowned in doubt.

"If I did not, would I do this?"

Loki brought out the silver apple from the pocket of space where he had kept it. He bit into the glimmering black fruit.

He immediately collapsed.


	8. Now You Don't

Loki lay on the ground in front of Thanos, completely motionless.

"No, it can't be. It's a trap." Thanos's eyes were wide and angry.

The light from the staff had turned bluish, Tony noticed.

"The locator is still here," the immortal muttered. "But there's something strange...."

Thanos bent to examine the body more closely, feeling for a pulse, then doing a spell. The objects flying around him slowed as he focused, pondering the evidence.

"He's dead. He's even cold. Already."

Then one of Hawkeye's new arrows flew to him and embedded itself in his neck.

Thanos's head snapped up and his eyes went right to Clint. He smiled at the archer as the objects sped up again. "A good shot, mortal, but not good enough. I am -" Then his eyes widened in surprise.

His face tightened in pain, and one by one the branches and stones dropped out of the air around him. 

"What did you do?" he roared.

"It's a little serum Bruce and Loki whipped up. It should make someone of your species - whatever that is - unable to manipulate magical energy." Tony laughed. "Looks like you're just one of the guys now."

Thanos struggled to summon his magic, but it would not come. Then Thor grabbed his arms from behind, holding him and hissing into his ear. "I would avenge my brother right now, but you wished him to suffer before he died. I think I will let you _enjoy_ mortal life for a while."

It was quite the most frightening thing Thor had ever done, Tony thought. He approved. 

SHIELD came and took Thanos away. Tony, still in his suit, carried the lifeless Loki into the jet. The others followed. Loki was laid down on the bench seating, and Tony took off his helmet.

Steve was wide-eyed. "Is he really dead? Does he really know how to come back?"

"Only under very specific circumstances, and he had better be right about this." Tony looked unnerved and angry. "There's a bit too much hocus pocus involved in this plan for my taste." He reached out to Loki's staff and pressed a button near the arc reactor core. The body's appearance flickered and his blue skin was revealed. 

"Hologram projector?" Bruce asked. Tony ignored this.

"A silver apple," Thor pondered. "Loki trusts you a great deal more than he ever trusted me, Tony Stark. I hope your feelings for him are as strong."

"So do I," Tony said, and kissed Loki.

"For real?" Clint said. "This is an actual thing?"

Natasha shushed him.

Loki began to breathe again.

"Good morning, Princess," Tony grinned. 

"I'm having deja vu," Loki joked weakly. "All the Avengers are standing over me and I feel like death."

Steve shook his head, smiling. "Guys, this is way too much to go through just to reference Snow White."

* * *

Among the things they did to Thanos while he was in SHIELD custody was to show him a video that Loki had recorded, ostensibly before the battle. He stood among the trees a short distance from the clearing. He wore one of the more casual versions of Asgard-style clothing, the green shirt with black ribbons wrapped over the sleeves and one of his long leather vests with little ornamentation, and no armor. This vest, however, unlike the ones he had worn in Asgard, had pockets comfortably situated for his hands. He liked the way that made him looked relaxed and in control as he leaned against a tree. He spoke to the camera with a small smile on his face. 

"There is no secret for bringing back the dead. If you are watching this, I have given my life for this world. I wanted you to know exactly how I beat you, exactly how I evaded your promise of pain.

"Earth does not form to one being's will, as I tried to explain. But if you work within the framework, slide into the structure of the place...you can accomplish almost anything.

"It's a feat to learn for a sorcerer used to shaping worlds to his will. But then, you have nothing but time.

"I actually think you might enjoy yourself," said Loki. "The thing about Earth...the thing about a planet with seven billion mortals on it...you just sit back long enough and death unfolds around you. All kinds of death. I've given you what you most wanted. Granted your fondest wish. A way to make it all last."

Then he laughed. "Well, if SHIELD ever lets you see anything outside of your cell ever again. Which they might not. But there's one thing you'll certainly never see again, and that is me. I have escaped."

Loki grinned at the camera. "I hope that tortures you. Knowing that you can never avenge my perceived betrayal. Knowing that I am completely beyond your reach."


	9. Home Again

Loki had insisted on the hologram projector, protecting the identity of Midnight Mystery whatever happened. He would never admit it to Tony, but Mystery's injury in battle was part of a contingency plan. If he never woke up, it would be assumed that Mystery was no longer with the Avengers because of that injury.

Loki wasn't sure when he had become so attached to that identity that had been chosen for him. So protective of it that he would guard it even in death.

Midnight Mystery had a clean slate. No red in his ledger.

It was almost as if Mystery was a person separate from himself. More likely, the identity was one of the most beautiful lies he had created and he wanted to treasure that. Loki could live that lie quite happily, as long as one person knew everything about him and trusted him nonetheless.

That one person sat beside him as they watched the news, as the death of the villain Loki was reported. 

"How does it feel to be a dead man?" Tony asked.

"Considerably better than being a villain," Loki answered, yawning into Tony's shoulder.

"You think Loki will ever show up again, M&M?"

"Only if I need him," Loki answered. "Very few people on Asgard know that I am Jotunn. Only one knows that I had that apple, and what its qualities are. Here, only the Avengers and SHIELD know who I am. For the rest of the Realms, perhaps Loki Odinson can truly be put to rest."

"You know, you could really use an actual name. One of us is going to screw up and call you Loki in public if we keep calling you that here."

"I have discussed this with Fury, mostly with respect to other concerns," Loki said. "SHIELD wanted to provide me with certain documents."

He took out a wallet, and in it was an ID card, that striking blue skin and red eyes in the photograph, and underneath was a name.

Joshua Albastru.

"...Joshua. How very...biblical of you," Tony said with slight confusion. "Sure you're not overcompensating on the good associations there?"

"He _was_ the scout in an invasion which took over a country. And it's a name that does have trickster associations as well, if I correctly understand the vernacular."

"I'm not following," frowned Tony.

"I'm just joshing with you," said Loki, and grinned.

* * *

Malibu House 2.0 had a lot in common with the original. Football fields worth of windows, and a design minimal enough to emphasize the view. The changes included just a touch more richness in the colors and materials - slightly more wood - and a little more nature and less geometry in the curved shapes. There were a few more guest rooms, and a bigger gym area.

There were also the spells built into the foundations. California could sink into the ocean and this house would be left floating there.

Everyone came to the housewarming party. All the Avengers, Pepper and Happy, Jane and Darcy, Rhodie, even Nick Fury.

And Frigga.

The Bifrost had finally been rebuilt, and when Thor went home to visit, Loki had told him to pass along the invitation. He didn't actually expect her to show up. As far as he knew, the Queen had never left Asgard.

But there she was, standing in his home, polite and regal as always. She smiled at the crowd that greeted her. Thor rushed to Frigga and hugged her, then introduced Jane, who blushed profusely at the stream of compliments he gave her.

"Hey, Thor's mom!" called Darcy, and waved. 

Tony raised his eyebrows, and glanced at Loki to gauge his reaction. When he saw nothing more negative than slight shock, Tony stood and walked towards the queen. He was glad to see that Loki caught up with him and stood by his side.

"It's an honor, Your Majesty," he said, taking her offered hand and kissing it with a mischievous smile. "I'm Tony Stark, and this is my boyfriend Joshua. Welcome to our home."

Frigga raised her eyebrows at being introduced to "Joshua," and for the first time since entering, she looked unsure what to do. "Lovely to meet you," she said tentatively.

Loki wrapped her in an enormous hug. "Mother," he said. "I'm glad you're here."

She spent the rest of the night beaming. She watched as Loki demonstrated ice formation as part of a discussion of biochemistry with Bruce, and no one was startled. She watched as Clint and Natasha badgered him and insulted him, and he gave back in the same spirit, until he finally grinned and gave in and agreed to play Mario Kart with them. She watched as Steve asked Loki's opinion about some strategy he was working on for the next time the Avengers faced a single magic user. She watched as Pepper asked him whether Tony was taking care of himself, and then Loki drew her into a discussion on whether the painting over the buffet had been the right choice, or if something with lighter colors might be better.

But mostly she watched Tony watching Loki.

This Tony Stark was merely a human, but he radiated confidence, intelligence and charisma. He was clearly used to being the center of attention and she got the impression that normally, he would settle for nothing less.

But when he watched Loki, all those other things on his face were crowded out by wonder. And by something that, although she never expected to hear either of them say it aloud, the silver apple had proved was love. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of that story!
> 
> I had no idea where this was going when I started it. It came out more Loki-centric than I expected. Which is cool - I think I did more with Tony in Crystalline Alignment.
> 
> Everything I know about Thanos comes from various fanfictions, wikis and online articles. I have never read any comics about him. I think my interpretation is pretty solid but I apologize for any inaccuracies.


End file.
